Turn the Towns Teal

Humanitarian

Independent Carpet One Floor & Home of Westland, Michigan has joined forces with Turn the Towns Teal to help raise awareness of Ovarian Cancer. For the month of September, teal ribbons will be tied around trees all over the country to raise awareness during National Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month.

Turn the Towns Teal is a national campaign to promote awareness of ovarian cancer and its symptoms. The campaign was spearheaded 10 years ago by Jane MacNeil when her sister Gail MacNeil passed away from this terrible disease in 2008.

The slogan on their website ‘The Earlier the Diagnosis ~ the Better the Prognosis’ highlights the importance or raising awareness of this disease, because if caught in time, there is a 94% survival rate. Unfortunately, many women experience the symptoms in everyday life and it goes unrecognized sometimes until it is too late.

Catherine Buchanan, owner of Independent Carpet One, got involved five years ago after speaking with founder Jane MacNeil. She said this has been an incredibly rewarding experience for her and her staff,

“My entire staff takes the morning off, closing the store and we tie ribbons along Wayne Road, Michigan Avenue and Ford Road. This is our fifth year doing this and it has brought to us so many wonderful experiences. People in the city come up to us and ask what the teal ribbons signify and they proceed to tell us stories of women they know suffering from Ovarian cancer or have passed.

A wonderful young lady Annette Siese's mother in-law called the second year and asked how she could get involved since Annette was struggling with OC. She came in, picked up a few bolts of ribbon and started just tying on her street. Now the family helps us in their city of Wayne. This year every ribbon tied is in her honor of her strength and determination to beat cancer. She has an amazing spirit and we've become friends.

As we tie ribbons we also hang posters in local businesses windows and pass out symptom cards.”